Springfield Armor looking to add players from local tryout on Sunday

Armor coach Bob MacKinnon will evaluate up to 70 players Sunday in a local tryout at Springfield College.File | The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Opportunity is knocking, and the Springfield Armor are more than willing to answer the door.

The Armor will have their second open tryout Sunday at the Springfield College Fieldhouse, less than two weeks before the NBA Development League holds its annual draft.

“We had close to 60 guys at the first tryout in New Jersey and I thought the talent level was really good. As of right now, I believe we have over 50 guys signed up for Sunday, so we’ll probably get 70 or 80 guys for that,” Armor coach Bob MacKinnon said. “If you put the two tryouts together, we’ll almost double what we had last year numbers-wise.”

And with the Armor, it’s not just quantity. Three players from last year’s local tryout – Travis Cohn, David Akinyooye and Alejo Rodriguez – signed with Springfield and saw action in regular-season games.

Overall, the Armor have had nine players out of local tryouts play in the regular season, not to mention the success story of Dennis Horner, who made the team from the national tryout and even played for Springfield’s NBA hybrid partner New Jersey Nets.

Springfield, which won the East Conference title last year and enjoyed its best season, has averaged three local-tryout players per year making the regular-season roster – and that number could climb this year because of need.

Six of the 10 players on the roster when the Armor fell to Canton in the first round of the playoffs have overseas deals and likely won’t be back this season.

“Most of our former players have signed great deals overseas, so we need to get players through several different ways, and this is one of the ways,” MacKinnon said.

“It’s a good process and an exciting time for us,” MacKinnon said. "We try to give (the tryout players) a good look. A lot of teams just have guys come in and play games, but we don’t do that.

“My assistant Chris Carrawell and I will put them through drills first and then each guy on top of that will play two to three games. We’ll watch them all.”

The D-League draft is Nov. 2, all 16 teams participating via conference call. The Armor, who have the 14th pick in the first round and a total of nine over eight rounds, will hold their annual draft party at the Sheraton's MVP Pub at the Sheraton with free appetizers and a cash bar.

Ten days later, they will open training camp with as many as 17 players who will be whittled to a 10-man roster for the season opener Nov. 24 at Canton.